APAARI in collaboration with IPGRI organized a meeting of the Asian Representatives nominated by the Chairs of the FAO Regional Groups for the drafting of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA), under the FAO Treaty ITGRFA. The meeting was held from the 5th to the 6th of April 2006 at the Royal Princess Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand.

The objective of the meeting was to provide the Asian Representatives an opportunity to prepare a well coordinated Asian position for negotiation during the next SMTA Contact Group meeting to be held in Sweden in late April, 2006. This forthcoming meeting is an offshoot of the 10 November 2005 IPGRI-APAARI Roundtable meeting on the implementation of the International Treaty on Plant genetic Resources on Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). FAO ADG and Regional Representative Dr He Changchui inaugurated this regional meeting, which was sponsored by IPGRI.
Dr. Rashid Anwar from Pakistan is the Chair of the Asian SMTA Contact Group.